Railways-a British invention-arrived only a decade or so before the camera-another British invention-and have been captured in photographs ever since. Taken from the Getty Images photographic archive, the hundreds of captioned black and white photos here illustrate the story of railroads from the early Victorian days of broad gauge and top-hat engine funnels, through the heyday of steam in the late 19th century, the impact of 20-century wars, to the advent of diesel and electric engines. The book offers spectacular line-side images of powerful engines at work-often in dramatic landscapes-station scenes, urban lines, locomotive works, and rail disasters. The text is in English, German, and French.